My mom wants to start lifting and do cardio. She's 53 years old.

[LiftingFood]

Ello' everyone.

Well, I have to say, my mom has taken a genuine interest in lifting, and working out. She's tired of living an unfit life, and always has body pain.

She asked me what she can do to get stronger, in hopes to relieve her body from pain. She has a history of back problems, and shoulder pains, especially around the trap area.

Any how, I told her machines are almost useless, and I'm not entirely sure if she has the strength to even squat a barbell, bench, press, etc.

Do you guys know any workouts a 53 year old women can do with little taxation to the body? She weighs 145 lbs, and is about 5'4" tall.

She's also interested in cardio work too.
I tried to google information, but all I find is retarded workouts for seniors that probably don't give any results.

[Carnivroar]

Yeah, check out Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe.

[LiftingFood]

Yeah, check out Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe.

Ahaha, maybe I need to take an indepth view of it.

[hamburgerfan]

You could have her do the exercises with light dumbbells until she gains the strength to use an olympic bar. Then she could do the program as it's written.

[Carlos Daniel]

Rip has people that don't have the strength to squat leg pressing for 3 sets of 10 until they get strong enough to squat.

[denick]

Almost 2 years ago my wife and I started to do barbell work using Starting Strength as a guide. She started at age 53. We did it 1 day a week. My wife had been seeing a doctor and chiropractor for years about lower back pain, shoulder pain, jaw pain (TMJ) and she was having pain in her hands that she was told was carpel tunnel. She hadn't exercised in 15 years. (I was no better). We did body weight exercises for 2 months. Squats, sit ups, push ups and a few others 2 to 3 times a week. Being completely unconditioned we could tell the difference with just that. Then we did, squat, press, deadlift one week. And squat, benchpress, deadlift the next. We had to get her a standard size bar. It weighed 17 lbs and couple of small plates for her to start. We got these for very cheap used. We also got a rower and warmed up for 5 minutes just as Rip said.

Within a couple of months all the mentioned problems she was having went away or diminished so much she says they are not an issue for her. The Jaw pain problem subsiding to the point it has is borderline miraculous if you had heard the doctors assessment of what she was going to have to endure for the rest of her life.

I could go on for a long time about how great SS has worked for her and myself. If your mother wants to see real change she should do barbell work and SS is the guide to do it. As for the cardio. As you see written here so many times, "Get strong first". Strength is the most important thing!

"Do you guys know any workouts a 53 year old women can do with little taxation to the body?" You still need to tax the body. To get results you have to do the exercises as described in SS. With only a little modification for the individuals abilities. You still need to achieve adding some weight each workout. It may just be smaller increases than written.

Start easy. Help her get good form from the very beginning. Good luck!

[spiderman]

denick,

That is a great story about your wife's improvements. Thanks for sharing it.

How have you done with the program?

[Dastardly]

A lesson learned from me trying to get my mother to exercise:

Be careful not to scare her off. The amount of soreness an untrained person can get from the tiniest amount of pressing, push ups, air squats etc can often be overwhelming/frightening. In the first few sessions really do less than you think. Even some brisk walking or riding a bike can get an untrained middle aged person sore.

I made my 21 year old brother go for a bike ride with me, it was 15 miles tops at a leisurely pace with lots of stopping. But the next day he struggled to get out of bed complaining of soreness and fatigue. (what a pussy, lol).

For the "cardio element" id recommend you get your mom to do brisk walking. This will get her dormant leg muscles primed for some training, reducing the shock! It will probably also get her out of breath and work well as cardio. At the end of a walking session, introduce bodyweight squats. When she gets good at these, introduce light back squats or leg pressing. All of this very gradually over a few weeks.

[FatButWeak]

Almost 2 years ago my wife and I started to do barbell work using Starting Strength as a guide. She started at age 53. We did it 1 day a week. My wife had been seeing a doctor and chiropractor for years about lower back pain, shoulder pain, jaw pain (TMJ) and she was having pain in her hands that she was told was carpel tunnel. She hadn't exercised in 15 years. (I was no better). We did body weight exercises for 2 months. Squats, sit ups, push ups and a few others 2 to 3 times a week. Being completely unconditioned we could tell the difference with just that. Then we did, squat, press, deadlift one week. And squat, benchpress, deadlift the next. We had to get her a standard size bar. It weighed 17 lbs and couple of small plates for her to start. We got these for very cheap used. We also got a rower and warmed up for 5 minutes just as Rip said.

Within a couple of months all the mentioned problems she was having went away or diminished so much she says they are not an issue for her. The Jaw pain problem subsiding to the point it has is borderline miraculous if you had heard the doctors assessment of what she was going to have to endure for the rest of her life.

I could go on for a long time about how great SS has worked for her and myself. If your mother wants to see real change she should do barbell work and SS is the guide to do it. As for the cardio. As you see written here so many times, "Get strong first". Strength is the most important thing!

Excellent story and congrats on your progress. Im not sure that bodyweight exercises are good for deconditioned people, however. Depending on bodyweight, they may be too deconditioned to do them, which is dispiriting.

The OP should start on SS right away. Purchase a cheap "standard" barbell set if the 45 pound bar alone is too heavy for her - it probably is. If she can't do a squat with no weight on her shoulders, have her do bodyweight only squats. If she can't do those (a possibility with deconditioned, fat people) have her do partial squats, or pull up squats where she loops a towel over a bar and pulls herself up while squatting at the same time. three sets of five reps on these bullshit squat measures, of course.

Let us know what happens. We all have moms!

[MazdaMatt]

I gave my mother-in-law an awesome challange that opened her eyes to fitness.

Sit on the edge of a fairly low couch, lean forward, chest up, and stand up without using any momentum. If you move your torso before you get up it doesn't count.

Do it till you get 1 perfect on on the first day, 2 ont he second, 3 on the third, etc until you just can't get it, then take a break. This gave her 1 month of daily practice and for the first time in years she carried a full laundry basket up the stairs without having to hoist it up a few steps at a time.

She was VERY deconditioned - over weight and working her way back from a horrible kidney disease.

[xcardiobunny]

I gave my mother-in-law an awesome challange that opened her eyes to fitness.

Sit on the edge of a fairly low couch, lean forward, chest up, and stand up without using any momentum. If you move your torso before you get up it doesn't count.

Do it till you get 1 perfect on on the first day, 2 ont he second, 3 on the third, etc until you just can't get it, then take a break. This gave her 1 month of daily practice and for the first time in years she carried a full laundry basket up the stairs without having to hoist it up a few steps at a time.

She was VERY deconditioned - over weight and working her way back from a horrible kidney disease.

The laundry basket test! Just last night I noticed how light a full basket is now after a few months of lifting. If your mom is going to train at a gym or YMCA they usually have 35 lb bars one can use while building up to a standard bar. At first I rowed for a warm-up, but found that using the elliptical for ten minutes and doing a set of back extensions warms the lower body up better for squats. I hope she sticks to it, personally I love the changes being stronger has made.

[denick]

Okay, I've been told I need to get my facts right. My wife was 52 when we started exercising. We got a copy of a book with a Marine Corps calisthenicsworkout. She did 5 exercises for 5 repetitions 3 times a week. She added 1 repetition about every other workout. After about 2 months of this I found the Crossfit website and read an article on air squats and we added these.

Well just like so many others, on the Crossfit site we found Mark Rippetoe. Which led to Starting Strength and the books of Rippetoe and Kilgore that we say saved our lives. And so it began. I hope I got it right this time.

I am 57 years old. I work in construction with the main tools being shovels, sledge hammers and bars. Working mostly with stone. Very large stone most of the time. Well I can muscle a lot of weight around. More than most of the young guys who work for me. It was amazing to me how little weight on a barbell I could move with correct form. I had a long litany of aches and pains that were daily for me. Yes they went away. I reached a 295 DL,
235 SQ, 185 BP and a 118 Press. Unfortunately life's taken a turn that hasn't allowed us the time to workout for almost 3 months now. The aches are starting to come back in some ways. I hope to start lifting again this week.

The hardest part of doing SS has been the lack of a coach to go to. We found our way through the book and DVD to what we thought was good form. And after a few weeks one of us would spot something we were doing wrong. There is always a doubt about what we are doing.

[shaddix]

you gotta post vids man!

[marthalamb]

Your mom can do it, but should take her time in the early stages before progressing to a lot of weight. I started Crossfit a year and a half ago at age 51 after years of doing almost nothing. For the first six months or so I did mostly bodyweight exercises. . . lots of squats, "girl" pushups, rope-jumping, situps, and pullups with bands. As my core grew stronger, I progressed to workouts with light weights. This past June I started serious strength training with a 1 rep max deadlift-150 lb., back squat-85 lb. I also do front squats, shoulder presses, and power cleans. By October I had increased my 1 rep max to deadlift-200 lb., back squat-130 lb. At 5'3" and 112 lbs., this was significant and exciting progress for me. Now I'm pursing heavy weights with a renewed vengeance, and btw, in the best shape of my life. I've eliminated my osteoporosis without meds, and feel great. I don't ever intend to quit!

[FatButWeak]

Your mom can do it, but should take her time in the early stages before progressing to a lot of weight. I started Crossfit a year and a half ago at age 51 after years of doing almost nothing. For the first six months or so I did mostly bodyweight exercises. . . lots of squats, "girl" pushups, rope-jumping, situps, and pullups with bands. As my core grew stronger, I progressed to workouts with light weights. This past June I started serious strength training with a 1 rep max deadlift-150 lb., back squat-85 lb. I also do front squats, shoulder presses, and power cleans. By October I had increased my 1 rep max to deadlift-200 lb., back squat-130 lb. At 5'3" and 112 lbs., this was significant and exciting progress for me. Now I'm pursing heavy weights with a renewed vengeance, and btw, in the best shape of my life. I've eliminated my osteoporosis without meds, and feel great. I don't ever intend to quit!

I just read this today - Good for you!